ARABY Mangans steps resignedly.

She was waiting for us, her

figure defined by the light from the half-opened door.
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce Her brother always teased her before he obeyed and I
(1882-1941) stood by the railings looking at her. Her dress swung as
she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed
North Richmond Street being blind, was a quiet from side to side.
street except at the hour when the Christian Brothers Every morning I lay on the floor in the front
School set the boys free. An uninhabited house of two parlour watching her door. The blind was pulled down
storeys stood at the blind end, detached from its to within an inch of the sash so that I could not be seen.
neighbours in a square ground The other houses of the When she came out on the doorstep my heart leaped. I
street, conscious of decent lives within them, gazed at ran to the hall, seized my books and followed her. I
one another with brown imperturbable faces. kept her brown figure always in my eye and, when we
The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died came near the point at which our ways diverged, I
in the back drawing-room. Air, musty from having quickened my pace and passed her. This happened
been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the morning after morning. I had never spoken to her,
waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old except for a few casual words, and yet her name was
useless papers. Among these I found a few paper- like a summons to all my foolish blood.
covered books, the pages of which were curled and Her image accompanied me even in places the
damp: The Abbot, by Walter Scott, The Devout most hostile to romance. On Saturday evenings when
Communicant and The Memoirs of Vidocq. I liked the last my aunt went marketing I had to go to carry some of
best because its leaves were yellow. The wild garden the parcels. We walked through the flaring streets,
behind the house contained a central apple-tree and a jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid
few straggling bushes under one of which I found the the curses of labourers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys
late tenants rusty bicycle-pump. He had been a very who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs cheeks, the
charitable priest; in his will he had left all his money to nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you
institutions and the furniture of his house to his sister. about ODonovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles
When the short days of winter came dusk fell in our native land. These noises converged in a single
before we had well eaten our dinners. When we met in sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my
the street the houses had grown sombre. The space of chalice safely through a throng of foes. Her name
sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers and
towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble praises which I myself did not understand. My eyes
lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our were often full of tears (I could not tell why) and at
bodies glowed. Our shouts echoed in the silent street. times a flood from my heart seemed to pour itself out
The career of our play brought us through the dark into my bosom. I thought little of the future. I did not
muddy lanes behind the houses where we ran the know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, if I
gauntlet of the rough tribes from the cottages, to the spoke to her, how I could tell her of my confused
back doors of the dark dripping gardens where odours adoration. But my body was like a harp and her words
arose from the ashpits, to the dark odorous stables and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires.
where a coachman smoothed and combed the horse or One evening I went into the back drawing-room in
shook music from the buckled harness. When we which the priest had died. It was a dark rainy evening
returned to the street light from the kitchen windows and there was no sound in the house. Through one of
had filled the areas. If my uncle was seen turning the the broken panes I heard the rain impinge upon the
corner we hid in the shadow until we had seen him earth, the fine incessant needles of water playing in the
safely housed. Or if Mangans sister came out on the sodden beds. Some distant lamp or lighted window
doorstep to call her brother in to his tea we watched gleamed below me. I was thankful that I could see so
her from our shadow peer up and down the street. We little. All my senses seemed to desire to veil themselves
waited to see whether she would remain or go in and, if and, feeling that I was about to slip from them, I
she remained, we left our shadow and walked up to

1
pressed the palms of my hands together until they When I came home to dinner my uncle had not yet
trembled, murmuring: O love! O love! many times. been home. Still it was early. I sat staring at the clock
At last she spoke to me. When she addressed the for some time and, when its ticking began to irritate
first words to me I was so confused that I did not know me, I left the room. I mounted the staircase and gained
what to answer. She asked me was I going to Araby. I the upper part of the house. The high cold empty
forgot whether answered yes or no. It would be a gloomy rooms liberated me and I went from room to
splendid bazaar, she said she would love to go. room singing. From the front window I saw my
And why cant you? I asked. companions playing below in the street. Their cries
While she spoke she turned a silver bracelet round reached me weakened and indistinct and, leaning my
and round her wrist. She could not go, she said, forehead against the cool glass, I looked over at the
because there would be a retreat that week in her dark house where she lived. I may have stood there for
convent. Her brother and two other boys were fighting an hour, seeing nothing but the brown-clad figure cast
for their caps and I was alone at the railings. She held by my imagination, touched discreetly by the lamplight
one of the spikes, bowing her head towards me. The at the curved neck, at the hand upon the railings and at
light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white the border below the dress.
curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, When I came downstairs again I found Mrs.
falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. It fell over one Mercer sitting at the fire. She was an old garrulous
side of her dress and caught the white border of a woman, a pawnbrokers widow, who collected used
petticoat, just visible as she stood at ease. stamps for some pious purpose. I had to endure the
Its well for you, she said. gossip of the tea-table. The meal was prolonged beyond
If I go, I said, I will bring you something. an hour and still my uncle did not come. Mrs. Mercer
What innumerable follies laid waste my waking stood up to go: she was sorry she couldnt wait any
and sleeping thoughts after that evening! I wished to longer, but it was after eight oclock and she did not
annihilate the tedious intervening days. I chafed against like to be out late as the night air was bad for her.
the work of school. At night in my bedroom and by day When she had gone I began to walk up and down the
in the classroom her image came between me and the room, clenching my fists. My aunt said:
page I strove to read. The syllables of the word Araby Im afraid you may put off your bazaar for this
were called to me through the silence in which my soul night of Our Lord.
luxuriated and cast an Eastern enchantment over me. I At nine oclock I heard my uncles latchkey in the
asked for leave to go to the bazaar on Saturday night. halldoor. I heard him talking to himself and heard the
My aunt was surprised and hoped it was not some hallstand rocking when it had received the weight of his
Freemason affair. I answered few questions in class. I overcoat. I could interpret these signs. When he was
watched my masters face pass from amiability to midway through his dinner I asked him to give me the
sternness; he hoped I was not beginning to idle. I could money to go to the bazaar. He had forgotten.
not call my wandering thoughts together. I had hardly The people are in bed and after their first sleep
any patience with the serious work of life which, now now, he said.
that it stood between me and my desire, seemed to me I did not smile. My aunt said to him energetically:
childs play, ugly monotonous childs play. Cant you give him the money and let him go?
On Saturday morning I reminded my uncle that I Youve kept him late enough as it is.
wished to go to the bazaar in the evening. He was My uncle said he was very sorry he had forgotten.
fussing at the hallstand, looking for the hat-brush, and He said he believed in the old saying: All work and no
answered me curtly: play makes Jack a dull boy. He asked me where I was
Yes, boy, I know. going and, when I had told him a second time he asked
As he was in the hall I could not go into the front me did I know The Arabs Farewell to His Steed. When I
parlour and lie at the window. I left the house in bad left the kitchen he was about to recite the opening lines
humour and walked slowly towards the school. The air of the piece to my aunt.
was pitilessly raw and already my heart misgave me. I held a florin tightly in my hand as I strode down
Buckingham Street towards the station. The sight of the

2
streets thronged with buyers and glaring with gas to talk of the same subject. Once or twice the young
recalled to me the purpose of my journey. I took my lady glanced at me over her shoulder.
seat in a third-class carriage of a deserted train. After an I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay
intolerable delay the train moved out of the station was useless, to make my interest in her wares seem the
slowly. It crept onward among ruinous house and over more real. Then I turned away slowly and walked
the twinkling river. At Westland Row Station a crowd down the middle of the bazaar. I allowed the two
of people pressed to the carriage doors; but the porters pennies to fall against the sixpence in my pocket. I
moved them back, saying that it was a special train for heard a voice call from one end of the gallery that the
the bazaar. I remained alone in the bare carriage. In a light was out. The upper part of the hall was now
few minutes the train drew up beside an improvised completely dark.
wooden platform. I passed out on to the road and saw Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a
by the lighted dial of a clock that it was ten minutes to creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes
ten. In front of me was a large building which displayed burned with anguish and anger.
the magical name.
I could not find any sixpenny entrance and, fearing
that the bazaar would be closed, I passed in quickly
through a turnstile, handing a shilling to a weary- GUIDE QUESTIONS
looking man. I found myself in a big hall girdled at half
its height by a gallery. Nearly all the stalls were closed 1. Why does the narrator want to go to the bazaar?
and the greater part of the hall was in darkness. I 2. Why does he arrive so late?
recognised a silence like that which pervades a church 3. What doesn't he buy anything for Mangan's
after a service. I walked into the centre of the bazaar
sister?
timidly. A few people were gathered about the stalls
which were still open. Before a curtain, over which the
4. Enumerate the activities taking place at Araby.
words Cafe Chantant were written in coloured lamps, To what extent do they sustain its "magical
two men were counting money on a salver. I listened to name"?
the fall of the coins. 5. What had the narrator expected to find at
Remembering with difficulty why I had come I Araby? What was the basis of his expectation?
went over to one of the stalls and examined porcelain 6. Define the narrator's feelings for Mangan's sister.
vases and flowered teasets. At the door of the stall a To what extent is she the cause of those
young lady was talking and laughing with two young feelings? What, as they say, does he see in her?
gentlemen. I remarked their English accents and 7. What purpose might Joyce have had in choosing
listened vaguely to their conversation. not to mention the object of the narrator's
O, I never said such a thing! affections until the middle of the third
O, but you did! paragraph? Describe the context into which she
O, but I didnt!
is introduced. In what ways is she part of the
Didnt she say that?
Yes. I heard her. world of North Richmond Street?
O, theres a ... fib! 8. What is the role of the narrator's uncle in the
Observing me the young lady came over and asked story? What values and attitudes does he
me did I wish to buy anything. The tone of her voice represent? Are they preferable to those of the
was not encouraging; she seemed to have spoken to me narrator?
out of a sense of duty. I looked humbly at the great jars 9. Find patterns in the story that show relevance to
that stood like eastern guards at either side of the dark "light," "vision," and "beauty."
entrance to the stall and murmured: 10. What is the search for the Holy Grail and how
No, thank you. is it like the story?
The young lady changed the position of one of the
vases and went back to the two young men. They began